Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Hands-On Preview

Konami is trying to get into your head.

I am not, generally speaking, a fan of survival horror games. Since Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil defined the genre all those years ago, developers seem content to smash together action and adventure tropes, creating a rough slurry of dodgy controls and unfriendly design decisions using clichéd slasher film aesthetics as an excuse for never bothering to evolve the games into something more refined.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, then, looks like a creation for people like me: survival horror for everyone who hates survival horror. Although it's a remake (or reimagining, as the creators would have it) of a ten-year-old adventure, the move to Wii has given Konami and Climax an excuse to rethink many of the genre's basic underpinnings. Gone is the clumsy combat; protagonist Harry Mason is even more of an average guy than he was in the original PlayStation game, a normal man trying only to find his daughter and incapable of fighting back against the nightmarish creatures who stalk him through the streets of Silent Hill. Gone are the cheap scares of dogs crashing through plate glass windows; instead, Climax is looking to the true psychological roots of horror by creating a game that aims to unsettle and unnerve rather than simply startle. Gone, too, are the horrible controls that seem endemic to survival horror; Harry moves about like a normal video game character, walking and running with the Wii Nunchuk's analog stick and looking about with the Wii Remote. The Remote serves an additional purpose as a flashlight, which simultaneously illuminates important details and creates long, eerie shadows. Even amidst the light and noise of the E3 show floor, Shattered Memories was perhaps the most unsettling game I've ever played.

Click the image above to check out all Silent Hill: Shattered Memories screens.

According to producer Tomm Hulett, that's precisely what the development team is shooting for. When you begin a new game of Shattered Memories, you're greeted with a warning screen -- but it's not the usual video game epilepsy or online content warning. Instead, you're told that, "as you're playing the game, the game is playing you." In real-world terms, this means Shattered Memories adjusts itself dynamically in response to your actions. While that's hardly a new concept, I've only ever seen it applied to difficulty levels. You know, the better you play, the harder the game fights back. In the world of Silent Hill, where "combat" consists entirely of running away from faceless homunculi who hope to smother Harry before he can locate his daughter, this dynamism instead means that the world itself changes to keep players on edge.

To that end, Climax has turned the game into an interactive psychological profile. In fact, the framing sequence for the entire adventure consists of the player (presumably as Harry) laying on a psychiatrist's couch, recounting the game's events. Before the action kicks in, players have to fill out a psych evaluation that asks rather personal questions: Do you drink? Do you enjoy role-playing during sex? Have you ever cheated on a partner? I answered "no" to that last question, to which the shrink responded with arch incredulity, as if he couldn't believe I was really a faithful partner. In that moment, the tone was set: Shattered Memories would be going on the offensive, constantly trying to question and undermine my values and habits.

There's more to the psych profile than a simple game-opening pop quiz, though; Ultima IV this isn't. According to Hulett, the game continues to track your behavior well beyond the introduction. Once I had control of Harry, I stepped into an abandoned gas station and began searching meticulously through the dusty shelves. "Right now, the game is judging you," Hulett said. "It's deciding that you're a thorough, cautious person." Later, I came across a pair or restrooms: one men's, one women's. "The game pays attention to how you behave here, and which restroom you go into first."

He also recounted one person who had chosen the most perverted options possible and constantly tried looking down the female characters' shirts. "Does the game actually pay attention to that?" I asked.

"Absolutely," he said.

"So there's a different ending for sexual deviants?"

"This is Silent Hill," he said, simply and to the point.

And it's interesting to see how the game responds to players. I stumbled across an answering machine in the abandoned station, which Hulett says will play one of something like 18 different possible messages. Having indicated that I'm a faithful partner who doesn't drink much, I doubt it's a coincidence that the message I found on the machine was of a drunken woman angrily ranting about how a video store erased tapes of her wedding. "How am I supposed to replace that?" she slurred. I'll admit it -- it was uncomfortable to listen to, and it was all the creepier knowing that the game had effectively selected something that really was so personally unsettling.

The thing about Shattered Memories's head games is that they make you question everything. Later, I stepped into the open air of the winter night to a scene where, Hulett notes, you'll either find a bar or a police station. Inside will be a woman, either a bartender or a cop, and her responses will vary -- maybe she'll be hard of hearing, or simply detached and disinterested. I found the bar, and the bartender within was warm and helpful. Instead of taking relief in a friendly face, though, I found myself wondering what the game's ulterior motives were, and what I had done to earn this situation.

Even beyond the brain-screwing stuff, there's some effective game design at play. Apparently a significant factor in the game is the encroachment of an ice world, which engulfs portions of the town from time to time. The first time I saw the ice appear, it blocked off most of the streets, but at the same time offered a hint that I wasn't to backtrack along my previous route: the ice impaled a parked car, whose alarm went off. When I went to investigate the car, I noticed its headlights were flashing at an unlocked door in the side of a building -- clearly, the next place I was meant to go. And once the town's faceless creatures inevitably began chasing me, my possible escape routes were highlighted with a hint of blue luminescence.

Click the image above to check out all Silent Hill: Shattered Memories screens.

And that's what impresses me most about Shattered Memories, I think. Where most survival horror games are content to put the player into opposition with the interface or with overwhelmingly impossible foes, Climax seems happy to smooth over those elements and lower the mechanical barriers to entry. Ultimately, this only serves to highlight the fact that your real opponent is your own personality and the way you deal with Silent Hill's ominous world. Of course, there's no telling if the developers will actually manage to make the psychological creepiness as big a factor throughout the entire adventure as it is in that opening half-hour... but for perhaps the first time ever, I'm eager to play a survival horror game to find out for myself.

Comments (23)

Thrilled

I can't wait for this game. The whole premise of the psychological evaluation that occurs through the game is astounding and sounds like the level of interactiveness that I was beginning to think games would never achieve. I would love to see more survival/horror games delve into this, as everyone knows, when the threats become personal, they are that much more frightening...

Please, just give me a 1/2

Hopeful

I am totally excited for this game to come out. It has the chance to revive the survival horror genre from the adventure/action/shooter garbage can, and make it into something fresh and new. I will most certainly be giving this game a purchase (even if it's disappointing, it can still add to my SH collection). I just hope it doesn't have ANYTHING similar with Silent Hill: Homecoming. That game was such a frustrating waste of time!

Hmm..

Although i am a fan of the first 3 games i believe silent hill has lost its touch i mean dont get me wrong it could be a good game but as far as the last two are concerned they pretty much sucked an left me doubting my loyalty to to silent hill konomi needs to step it up a notch i want the story to be good along with the chills of the first one... make us proud konomi!!!

in agreement of survival horror games..

i definitely agree that i am not a fan of survival horror yet it has "scared" so many of my friends!! this game looks like it actually took its time and updated the controls and revamped the ideology of what can scare a person. personally, i write and have a vivid imagination.. so this may be my horror game that can actually be worth the price to be announced.

I'm interested

When I first heard about Shattered Memories I was really put off by the earliest descriptions offered.

It sounded like the game had been messed up beyond recognition, not improved in the slightest. After reading this my interest has been piqued - For me the location in Silent Hill is more important than any of the monsters. The town is as much a living breathing thing as the main character and Shattered Memories seems to be incorporating that more then traditional Surival Horror games (where the location only serves as a place the developers use to place scares)

If controls are bad...

I'm pretty stoked about this game but everyone seems to be bitching about how it will control horribly on Wii. My answer - play the PS2 version. That's what I'll be doing, even if it is "meant" for the Wii.

Maybe I do need a Wii

I really like the first 3 SH games, with #1 being my favorite Survival Horror game I have ever played. The creatures and psychologically challenging moments are so cool to watch and just get through and make these games unlike any others I have played. Very cool how they are revisiting #1 IMO, and giving back to the fans. I must have completed that game at least 6 or seven times just to get that weird UFO ending. I wonder if that'll be referenced at all. Really well presented article here man.

New Designs Attract New Fans

I know that the stupid controls and the frustratingly mediocre combat, annoying as they may be, are supposed to add up to the terror, but that's precisely what makes some gamers to stay far away from survival-horror, effectively spending our money on other genres. Personally, I'm totally psyched that they decided to ditch crappy controllers and crappy combat. Hell, I'm even interested in Homecoming, since it actually has competent combat, but apparently that pissed off some fans of the series...

It's amazing how people bitch and whine about a WELL DESIGNED COMBAT SYSTEM, but alas, that's how it goes. If mediocre combat fails to catch the attention of new consumers and efficient combat angers fans of the series, then maybe focusing on puzzles, story and psychological horror will do the trick... Hell, I'm sold. Well done, Climax, well done indeed.

Looking great but...

Just worried that there will be a lack of enemy variety. Nothing has been mentioned of different enemy types or bosses ( if it has and I missed it, LEMME KNOW!). I think boss fight chases can be done to be exhilarating, and it would be nice to not have to "defeat" a boss for once but rather run away in true horror fashion. Just ma 2 cents, but it looks to be a good game either way.

Your not alone Patrick...

I loved Homecoming... Scarlet is one of my favorite video game creatures ever! Im just glad they are adding more features to the series... completely running from monsters wont happen, they are just making it more designed around the "flight instead of fight" idea.

HUGE Silent Hill nerd right here...

And Im very excited about this new twist on the franchise. This article just made me wanting this even more. This series has brought me to tears, caused me to really think about things, and inspired me to create art like I have never before... thats what great games should be like!

Need to see it again...

When I played this at E3, I became really frustrated with the controls. If the game was "playing me" it was apparently toying with my fear of looking at the ceiling with the flashlight a lot.

The controls just didn't seem to work. Maybe there was something wrong with the demo setup, but I ended up just walking away after 10mins or so. Furthermore, I'm not sure how excited I am for the somewhat combat-less gameplay.

Your preview does make me want to give it a second chance, though. Damn it Jeremy, now I'm going to have to play it again.

Sounds like...

We got ourselves a winner... I'm probably going to get the sexual deviant ending or the "I'm bad but in a good way" ending. Take that as you will, this is a must buy for me. Must... Look... Up... ASHLEY'S SKIRT!!!! (RE4 reference)

I'm getting my hands on this thing as soon as possible... I really love the Survival Horror genre, but in the past few years have also enjoyed studying the human psyche... I can't wait for this game it sounds like it was made for me.

Setting Precedents

The original PS1 Silent Hill, I feel, was the first survival horror game that effectively made use of its medium to truly instill real fear in the player. But its methods to do that have aged, as evidenced in the woefully misguided Silent Hill Homecoming. Climax's thoughtful take looks like a genre-defining classic in the making. Thanks for giving me hope Jeremy. It's been far too long since a great Silent Hill game, let alone a great horror game, has come out.

Revolutionary...

I like that they've got a simple run and knock over barricades model for the monsters. No one's made a point of having a combat free survival horror game before. But the run mechanic sounds exciting. Hopefully, the game will have a big variety of options when it comes to escaping pursuers. I love the look behind feature. This is the first non-Nintendo Wii exclusive entry that I'm genuinely excited about.

Sounds awesome..

I got to play this at E3 and didn't spend much time with it. Mostly due to the fact that I went on the last day and wanted to try and play as much as possible. It did seem like something to look out for, though. I remember pressing "down" on the D-pad and it made Mason turn around and the camera view of that was very unsettling.